A Bump in the Road
by MaraLSky
Summary: While trying to find legitiment news headlines among the trashy celebrity gossip headlines, Obi-wan spots a familiar name.


(My personal protest to all the celebrity "news" that I find on my AOL welcome screen. Besides, I honestly do wonder how Obi-wan and everyone else missed this.)

Obi-wan Kenobi was disgusted.

Millions of beings were hurt or killed in the clone wars each day, and the only thing that seemed to be available on the Galaxy Online welcome screen was celebrity trash talk. Didn't these reporters have anything better to report than a famous Twi'lek actress getting lekku implants?f

Bored, Obi-wan continued to watch the features scroll on. They were currently in hyperspace, and Anakin was in his quarters napping. _Even as a Knight, he's still like a lazy teenager sometimes,_ Obi-wan thought sourly, almost wishing he could sleep the boring hours away. But if he was too restless to mediate, he was far to restless to sleep. Therefore, he had decided to catch up on the galactic news.

Obi-wan was about to type in the address to Galactic News Network, in hopes that they might have some more worthwhile information, when a familiar name caught his eye. Obi-wan quickly hit the back button to read the headline: "_Sen. Padmé Amidala: Growing Fat or a Baby Bump?"_

He groaned in annoyance. Didn't they have anything better to do than pick on a young woman who was just learning that she could no longer keep her girlish figure and still eat that extra large piece of rhyscate for dessert each day? However, as a sign of his utter boredom, Obi-wan clicked on the story, and waited for it to load. He quickly stretched out with the Force to assure himself that his former apprentice was still sleeping. Given the not so secret torch Anakin carried for Padmé, Obi-wan didn't think it would be a good idea for Anakin to see a news bit that accused the young senator of letting herself go—or worse, of being pregnant.

Feeling as if he were breaking some part of the Jedi Code, Obi-wan leaned forward to read the celebrity gossip article that popped up on his screen.

_Although able to hide it for an unknown amount of time, Padmé Amidala is either putting on the pounds, or a mama-to-be. While her usual elaborate fashions hid her once slender figure, Amidala is now showing signs of a protruding belly even through the heavy fabrics. Either Sen. Amidala has decided to let herself go to become a miniature Hutt, or the virginal former Queen has found herself a secret lover. Speculators have cited Bail Antillies of Alderaan and the current Chancellor Palpatine as likely suspects for the father. The senator's spokesbeing refused to comment._

Underneath the article were several two-dimensional stills of Padmé that by their graininess, ill lighting and poor photographic composition had obviously been taken candidly. Each one had a red circle around Padmé's abdomen—they had even managed to take one of her in a thin nightgown while she stood on her balcony overlooking the planet-wide city of Corusant.

Obi-wan stared at the article, feeling both disgusted and naïve. Was this what the Jedi Order was fighting to protect? Trashy gossip? He felt outraged, despite himself. While he didn't like politicians, he did hold proper fondness for Padmé as a human being, and the fact that these mindless paparazzi and shallow reporters would attack a young woman like her for the mere…_entertainment_ of the masses filled Obi-wan with a contempt he seldom felt as a Jedi.

"Master?" Obi-wan jumped guiltily at the sound of the young Jedi Knight's voice, and quickly shut off the vid-screen portion of the unit. He tried to look as if he were just lounging at the desk the unit sat upon, but his poor acting skills were typically wasted on other Force sensitives. "You seem…perturbed."

Obi-wan tried to look innocent. "Me? Perturbed?" Anakin started to reply, but Obi-wan hopped out of his seat, "I'm going to go check things in the cockpit." With that, Obi-wan quickly made his way to the front of the ship, leaving a confused looking Anakin behind.

It was only when Obi-wan felt a flash of outrage through the Force that he realized he was rather foolish for not realizing that his Padawan would check to see if Obi-wan had simply turned off the vid-screen before attempting to reboot the unit.

Rushing back into the lounge area of the ship, he found a seething Anakin holding his ignited lightsaber before a cleanly sliced, but not less destroyed computer. "How dare they say that about her? She is not fat. A Hutt!" He ranted, looking as if he was looking for another computer to destroy. He turned sharply to Obi-wan. "Can you believe them? Talking about a woman's weight like that! A woman should be able to have children without those Sithspawn writing this fodder." He was breathing heavily, as if he had run a kilometer without the aid of the Force.

Obi-wan stared at Anakin, fingering his beard thoughtfully. He wanted to scold Anakin for not controlling his emotions, but the Force was telling him to stop and think through this situation farther. It amazed him that Anakin was simply ranting on about their comments regarding Padmé's weight gain. He concentrated on the other man for a moment, and could feel there was truly nothing bothering him about this but the rude comments the article made about Padmé's physique.

_Most curious. _Obi-wan knew how Anakin felt about Padmé, and he had figured the article's comment about his friend the Chancellor being a possible father would leave Anakin feeling betrayed, and possibly out for Palpatine's blood. As much as Obi-wan hated to admit it, he could not see too many other logical choices than the ones they had made.

Unless…

_Oh brother. Yoda is going to lose the little hair he has left._ Indeed, Obi-wan could almost feel a few of his own hairs beginning to gray. Yet he took the realization of his former apprentice's impending fatherhood with no more outward reaction than he would've if Anakin had suddenly announced he was having grilled cheese for lunch.

"Anakin, have a seat," he said gesturing to a nearby chair, and taking one of his own. "Is there anything you would like to tell me?"


End file.
